It was ele-poo clean up this morning, probably Number 2 on my list of favourite chores we have had to do this week (ha ha). We cleaned out several of the enclosures and took barrow loads over to 'Poo Mountain'. It wasn't messy or stinky at all, just large balls of straw - but it made for a morning of poo-humour and much laughter!
This afternoon Navann came out for his mud bath. He has his own mud pit near the enclosure where he stays with his mother and aunt. He is only four months old and the youngest elephant here at the moment, although that could change within the next week or so as Sao Yai may have a baby anytime.
This evening a traditional Thai Dinner was held in the second level of the main platform, with entertainment provided by children of the local village. A collection was made afterwards which helps the kids with their schooling fees.
After a week of the internet being down at ENP, I am in Chiang Mai tonight. I have been keeping my blogging up to date on a daily basis, but not able to post it online. So there will be photos and text from the last seven days coming hard and fast today!
My original travel plans included a five night stay in Chiang Mai this week, but things have changed .... I am going back out to ENP tomorrow morning again (Monday) for a third week of volunteering .... I have loved it so much .... stay tuned and you'll find out why!!
Les
It was our turn in the kitchen this morning, preparing the Elephant Food. First of all, all the fruit is washed in a Potassium Hydroxide solution, just to make sure that there are no pesticides on them .... my hands turned a shade of yellow from being in the water so long. Lek has an agreement with local farmers that produce pesticide free fruit, that she will buy all their crop. However, to ensure that it is safe for the elephants, we washed all the water melon and pineapple. Then it was feeding time, it is so much fun giving the elephants their lunch and they are eager for get at the fruit, so the baskets are kept behind us as we feed them so that it doesn't all disappear at once.
After lunch, it was time for a nap with the dogs on the terrace - the perfect place for a snooze in the sun!
This afternoon I had the fantastic opportunity to walk around the park with Lek and get really close to the elephants, in particular Pha Mai, sitting underneath her for a while with Lek and all the other members of the family around. It was an incredible experience and hard to describe, so I will just post a few pictures.
Enjoy! :-)
Well today I felt that I did my share of the chores. It was hot, humid and hard work. We left camp about 8:00am and drove for about an hour or so to a farm where we had to cut, collect, bundle and load 'Elephant Grass'. Machete's in hand, off we set for some tough work, it was dry and dusty and a full day of tiring, but rewarding, work. We had lunch in the field (literally) and had the company of three of the children belonging to the staff of ENP, they are so cute and they loved helping the volunteers and we all loved having them with us too. The truck was full of grass by about 4:00pm and we headed back to the park sitting atop of the load. It was a fun day and everyone was in good spirits, satisfied by what we had accomplished.
After such a hot day, our group decided it would be a great time to go tubing on the Mae Tang River. The volunteer coordinators took us further up the valley to a spot just after some rapids where we could launch. A cold beer in hand, we floated down the river for about 45 minutes. A perfect end to a perfect day.
It was a hazy morning, following a noisy night of dog barking and then the elephants joining the animal chorus. Apparently, I didn't work hard enough yesterday, as I didn't fall soundly asleep - waking several times ... even the rooster got into the act ... a long time before any alarm clock would. The sun rose through the morning mist and we started Thai National Elephant Day with the thermometer climbing quickly.
This mornings 'work' for our group was an "Elephant Walk'. Just as it sounds, it wasn't really work at all, as we followed our coordinator 'Say' around the park for a chance to visit with each of the elephants up close, with plenty of photo opportunities. Navaan, the baby born last October was of course the star and stole everyone's heart with his playful antics. Navaan stays with his mother and aunt, as he is too young to be out and about with the rest of the herd.
This afternoon I spent some time at the dog sanctuary playing with the dogs and taking some of the injured dogs from the clinic out for a walk, as they don't get out as often for some exercise while they recuperate. There are about 400 dogs at the sanctuary right now, some of them just very young puppies and all of them need homes ... if you'd like one, let me know and I can arrange to bring one back for you ... they all need loving homes!
This afternoon Navann came out for his mud bath. He has his own mud pit near the enclosure where he stays with his mother and aunt. He is only four months old and the youngest elephant here at the moment, although that could change within the next week or so as Sao Yai may have a baby anytime.
